Combined sofa seat and bed



5 Sheets-Sheet 1 Feb. 3, 1959 H. NocK vCOMBINEDSOFA SEAT AND BED med Aug. 51. 195e Sm/ .ww Nxw, mw, bm,

Feb. 3, 1959 H. 'NocK 2,871,488

COMBINED SOFA SEAT AND BED Filed Aug. 31, 1956 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR.

H. NOCK COMBINED SOFA SEAT AND BED Feb. 3, 1959 Filed Aug. 3l, 1956 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 Harry No C'' www Feb. 3, 1959 H. NocK COMBINED SOFA SEAT AND BED 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed Aug. 5l, 1956 INVENTOR. fi-@W79 M c' @L Feb. 3, 1959 H. NocK COMBINED son vSEAT AND BED 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed Aug. 31, 1956 )Ligar States This invention relates to articles of furniture of the type commonly termed sofa beds and which may be readily c onverted into a sofa seat or into a bed.

Sofa beds of many different types have heretofore been made but many of them have the objection that it involves too much diliculty and work to change from a' sofa to a bed and vice versa. it is consequently one of the objects of this invention to provide a sofa bed of 'this type with an improved mechanism connecting the Several parts so that the change from a sofa to a bed and vice versa can be easily made.

It is also an object of this invention to provide a sofa bed which is so constructed that the parts of the mechanism are releasably locked in position to form a sofa and will not move ont of their bed positions except by application of a small force thereto. Another object is to provide a soft bed in which the main frame or. support is so mounted' that it can easily be tipped upwardly when the parts are in the bed position to permit sweeping the floor underneath the same.

It is also an object of this invention to provide springs or other resilient means which serve to counteract the weight of a part of the sofa when it is swung upwardly partly into bed position and then to resiliently oppose further movement in a downward direction into bed position, so as to avoid possible'iniury to a person operating the sofa bed.

Other objects and advantages will be apparent from the following description of one embodiment of the inven; tion and the novel features will be particularly pointed out hereinafter in connection with the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawings, which 'illustrate by way of example, one embodiment of this invention and in f which none of the padding for the sofa seat nor the bed mattress is shown:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of the sofa bed when the parts thereof are arranged and locked in position to form a sofa seat.

Fig. 2 is a similar View showing some of the parts of the sofa moved partly into position to form a bed.

Fig. 3 is a side elevation, partly in longitudinal section, showing the parts in their positions to form a bed.

' 'Fig. 4 is a partial fragmentary top plan view thereof on an enlarged scale, approximately on line 4--4 Fig 3.

Fig. 5 is a continuation of Fig. 4, approximately on line 5 5 Fig. 3.

' Fig. 6 is a fragmentary plan view thereof on line 6--6 Fig. 2.

Figs. 7 and 8 are sectional fragmentary elevations respectively on lines 7--7 and 8 8 of Fig. 4.

Fig. 9 is a side elevation thereof showing the frame tipped up for sweeping underneath same.

p Fig. 10 is a sectional side elevation thereof showing power means for moving the parts from the sofa to the bed position and vice versa.

The main frame or support of the device includes upright posts 10 and 11 which form parts of a pair of end members 1S which may also form arm rests for the latent O 2,871,488 Patented Feb. 3, 1959 ice opposite ends of the sofa. These end members are connected by means of a rear cross member 17, a front cross member 18, and a lower cross member 19. 16 represents triangular pieces at the back corners of the support or frame which reinforce the same. The frame may be supported on -feet or legs in the usual manner.v

20 represents the frame of the back Iof the sofa which may be provided with any suitable upholstery (not shown) and which when the parts are moved into bed position constitutes an end of the bed. The bed frame, in addition to the end section which also forms the back `rest of the sofa, includes three sections which have the usual springs upon which a mattress rests. These sections fit into the support and under the seat portion of the sofa when the parts are in the sofa position. This back member 20 is of hollow construction, and aflat bar Vor strap 21 is rigidly bolted or otherwise secured thereto at each end yof the back member. ln the drawings the' linkage is shown for only one side of the bed, it being understood that the linkage on the opposite side thereof is a duplicate of that shown.

The bar 21 is pivotedly connected at its lower end at 13 with one end of a link 22, the other end thereof being connected to an end of a coil spring 24. The other end of the coil spring is connected to a fastening member 25 fixed on the frame of the sofa bed.

27 represents a bed leg member which extends substan-f tially parallel to the base of the soia back 2li and which forms a foot or supporting leg for the linkage remotefrom the support when in bed positions. This leg member 27 is suitably secured to the bar 2l in the construction shown. The bar 21 has an offset or U-shaped portion 23 which extends into proximity to the leg 27 and is welded thereto, as shown in Fig. 5. The leg 27 has a locking latch or dog 2S pivoted thereon at 29. This pivot 29 is located at one side of the latch 28 so that this latch will tend to swing by gravity about the pivot to the left as shown in Figs. l and 2. The other end of this latch has an inclined or beveled end 30 and a notch 31. When the parts are in their sofa positions as shown in Fig. 1, the locking latch 2S will swing by gravity to the left and engage with a iixed holding part 33 secured to cross member 34 of the frame or support of the sofa bed. Consequently when in this position, the back 2o of the latch 28, however, may be released when desired, and for this purpose the latch is provided with an upwardly extending part 36 to which a strap or latch actuating member 37 is secured. Consequently when the strap or actuating member 37 is pulled the latch will be swung about its pivot out of engagement with its holding part 33 so that the sofa back 20 may then be swung upwardly by means of said strap into the position shown in Fig. 2.

The leg member 27 is also connected by means of pivots 38 and 39 with two links or frame members di? and 41 respectively, the pivots being at opposite sides of the strap 21. The other ends of the trarne members dit and il are pivotedly connected at i2 and i3 to a side plate 45 of the middle bed section which is pivoted at #i6 on the cross member 18 of the sofa bed support. The pivots 42 and 43 are oiiset from each other in such a manner that when the back member Ztl of the sofa is swung into its back supporting position on the soia bed, as shown in Fig. l, these two links or bars will lie approximately side by side. lt will also be noted that one end of the spring 24 is connected to its fastening member 25 above the pivots 42 and 43 of the links di) and di, Fig. 2, and the other end of the spring, through the medium of the link 22 is connected with the back 2li below the pivots 3S and 39 of these links. Consequently the spring will exert a pull on the back Ztl tending to lift it or to counteract at least partly the weight of the back, thus facilitating' the swinging of the same into its upper position as shown in Fig. 2. When in this position, the spring has been shortened thus reducing the pull of the same on the back 2? and thus 'avoiding continued pull on the-back which ymight cause it to swing with force against the person lmoving the back into its upper position. The link 'Li-l, as may be seen in Fig. 5, forms a part of the frame ofra'spring section of the bed which will hereafter be referred to 'as the rst mattress supporting frame, and when insoi'a position this frame part forms the support 'for' a soia seat cushion (not shown).

The pivots d2 and-i3, which connect the links di) and 41 with a side plate 1&5' of a mattress supporting section which will hereinafter also he referred to as 'the ksecond mattress supporting section, are so spaced relatively to the pivots which connect these links with the leg 'member 27, that when the sofa back 2t) is moved from its lower position in which it forms the back of the sofa seat into the upper position, as shown in Fig. 2, it will be approximately in the same angular relation to the support ot" the sofa bed. ln other words, links 46 and lll act somewhat like the opposite sides of a parallelogram. During this movement the spring 2d cooperating with the link 22 will, to a large extent, counter-balance the weight of the back 20 and parts connected therewith.

The side plate 45 of the middle bed section as shown is `made up of angle bars d, t9 and 51 which are suitably welded together. The pivot 43 connects the link'lil) with the part 43 of the side plate d5 and the link 4l, which forms a side frame of a bed section, is pivoted to the angle bar 49 of 'the side plate 45. When the parts have arrived in the position shown in Fig.l 2, it will be noted that the link dll adjacent to its pivot 43 abuts against the angle bar i9 so that no further swinging of the link 4) relative to the side plate 45 is possible. When the parts of the bed are pulled farther away from the supy port of the sofa bed i. e. beyond their upright positions shown in Fig. 2, the side plate 45 will consequently be forced to swing about its pivot 46, through approximately a right angle whereupon the parts thus far described assume the positions shown in Fig. 3. When this occurs the leg member 27 will rest on the floor and the'spring 24 has been extended so that during the downward swinging of the Yparts from the position shown in Fig. 2 to that shown in Fig. 3 the spring 24 is again stretched or tensioned, thus resisting to some extent the downward swing of these parts. However, when the spring is in the position shown in Fig. 3, the pull exerted by the same will be approximately in dead center relation to some of the pivots of the parts described so that there is no tendency onthe part of the spring to swing the back 2t) and the links 46 and 4l upwardly or into their sofa positions. The parts will, therefore, remain in their bed positions without any tendency to move out ofthe same unless positively actuated.

The part of the mattress supporting frame which remains in the sofa bed support when the parts are in their bed positions includes a frame member 55 which will. hereinafter also be referred to as the third mattress supporting frame'member and which is pivotedly connected at one end at 56 to the middle side plate 45 and at its other end by means of a pivot 57 to a leg member 58 which is of angle shape and has a link 60 pivoted thereto at 61. The other end of this link is pivoted zit-62 to the part 43 `of the side plate 45 of the middle bed section. When this side plate is in the position shown in Fig. l, these parts will lie in the lower portion of the support of the sofa bed. When, however, the second mattress supporting side frame member 45 is swung about its pivot 46 from the position shown in Figs. l and 2 to that shown inl Fig. 3, the link 6i) and frame member 55 will assume the positions shown in Fig. 3 in which the supporting leg S takes an inclined position in which the lower end thereof rests upon the transverse bottom member 16 of the sofa bed support.

When in this position' the mattress supporting member 55- will be in alignment with the mattress supporting member di and the angle bar d which supports the` middle portion of the bed. This leg 5S, by supporting the weight of a part of the bed on the member lr6 of the support, holds the support down when a person sits on the middle portion of the bed and relieves the link 6) of the strain of supporting this part ol' the bed. v

All three mattress supporting members have their side members di, 45 and 55, connected by cross members 81, 82, S3 and 34. Also a back stop M projecting upwardly from cross member S prevents the mattress from sliding oi the back edge.

The side plate 45 and one of its cross members 82 also has secured thereto a trim part 65 which forms a part of the lower front edge of the sofa when the parts are in the sofa position shown in Fig. l. rl`his trim part is movable with the side plate d5 so as vto provide a place in the front cross lmember 13 for the pivot 46 suiciently llow to enable the bed to be at the usual distance above the iloor.

When the parts are again replaced to their sofa positions, the sofa back Ztl which forms one end of the bed, 's raised back to the position shown in Fig. 2 in which the side plate 45 of the middle bedl section swings about its pivot i5 because of the action thereon of links-l0 and 41. This movement also restores the mattress supporting member 55 into its lower position in the support of Vthe sofa bed, together with 'the link 60. This movement of the side plate 45 also causes the leg 5S to swing into a position substantially parallel with the frame member :55.

Upon a further push on the back, Zttinto a sofa posi tion, the parts will move back into the position shown in Fig. 1 whereupon the latch 28 will swing by gravity into its locking position inengagement with the fixed part 33.

It will be noted that when the parts are in the bed yposition as shown in Fig. 3, the main frame or support of the sofa bed can be swung upwardly about the vfront end thereof into the position shown in Fig. 9, thus making yit possible to sweep or otherwise-clean the oor underneath the support of the sofabed. This eliminates the necessity of shifting the sofa bed so as to render the door underneath thesupport accessible.

When the rear end of the support is swung upwardly as shown in Fig. 9, it will be noted that the links 55 and 60 and the leg 58 will swing into their folded positions in the bottom portion of the support, similar to the positions which these parts occupy when the sofa bed is in the positions shown in Figs. l and 2.

The construction described is easily adaptable for actu-l ation by power. When this is done the locking latch 28 is omitted and power actuated means are provided which are capable of exerting force on the link 41 whichalso constitutes a part of the frame of an intermediate 'section of the mattress supporting spring frame of the bed. By the way ofexamplegl have shown'in Fig. '10 ahydraulic or pneumatic actuated piston 70 which cooperates with a cylinder 71;. The cylinder may be pivoted at 72 at one end on the cross member 34 of the sofa bed support and the plunger or piston is pivoted at 73 on the link orframe member 41, adjacent to the side plate 45. When -this mechanism is used the counter spring 24 and therlinkZZ may also be omitted. Fluid under pressure'may besupplied to the opposite end of the cylinder by means of tubes or conduits 75 and 76.

It will be obvious upon examininating the linkage and the fluid pressure operated power device that when the piston exerts pressure against the rod or-frarne member 41, this member will swing upwardly and also the middle bed section 45 will swing about its pivot 46 `so that the parts of the sofa bed will be moved from the lposition shown in the full lines of Fig. 10 to the lbed position r-indicated in Vbroken lines in Fig. 10. When the force acting on the link il is reversed, for example by admiting 'duid pressure through the tube 76, the reverse action willrtake place so that the parts will be swung from their bed positions into the sofapositions.

I claim:

1. A sofa bed comprising a support having end members forming arm rests and connected by cross members, a mattress supporting frame disposed between said end members and including a plurality of frame parts hinged together, a member forming a back of the sofa when the parts of the sofa bed are in their sofa positions and which forms an end part of said mattress supporting frame when the parts of said sofa bed are in bed position, each side of said sofa bed having a pair of links pivotally connected to said back in spaced relation to each other, an intermediate mattress supporting frame part to which the other ends of said links are pivotally connected in spaced relation to each other, said sofa back 'being swingable upwardly on its connection with said links, and a spring having one end thereof connected above and forwardly of said last mentioned pivoted connections of said links and having the other end connected with said back below the pivot connections of said links with said back when said back is in sofa position, whereby said spring partly counterbalances the weight of said back until the same has been swung into a position above said support.

2. A sofa 'bed according to claim l in which a strip secured to said back and extending downwardly therefrom when said back is in sofa position is connected with the other end of said spring.

3, A sofa bed comprising a support having end members forming arm rests and connected by cross members, a mattress supporting frame disposed between said end members and including a plurality of frame parts hinged together, a member forming a back of the sofa when the parts of the sofa bed are in their sofa positions and which forms an end part of said mattress supporting frame when the parts of said sofa bed are in bed position, each side of said sofa bed having a pair of links pivotally connected to said back in spaced relation to each other, an intermediate mattress-supporting frame part to which the other ends of said links are pivotally connected in spaced relation to each other, said intermediate mattress supporting frame part being pivoted intermediate of its ends on said support and having parts against which one of said links abuts when in its upright position and which causes said intermediate frame parts to swing about its pivotal connection with said support, a third mattress supporting frame part remaining permanently in said support and a link connecting said intermediate and said third frame parts to swing said third frame part into substantially horizontal alinment with other frame parts when said intermediate framepart is swung about its pivotal connection with said support.

4. A sofa bed according to claim 3 in which one of said links of each pair also constitutes the side of another mattress supporting frame part.

5. A sofa bed comprising a support having end members forming arm rests and connected by cross members, a mattress supporting frame disposed between said end members and including a plurality of frame parts hinged together, a member forming a back of the sofa when the parts of the sofa bed are in their sofa positions, leg members rigidly secured to opposite ends of said back and extending substantially horizontally when said back is in upright position, a pair of links on each side of said sofa bed pivotally connected at one of their ends to said leg in spaced relation to each other, a second mattress supporting frame part to which the other ends of said links are pivotally connected in spaced relation to each other and which is pivotally mounted on said support, said sofa back being swingable upwardly on its connection with said links and then downwardly into bed position in which said legs rest on a floor, and parts on said links positioned to abut against parts of said second mattress supporting trarne part when said links are swung on their pivotal connections with said support to push said second frame part to swing about its pivotal connection with said support into horizontal position during the downward swing o said back into bed position.

6. A sofa bed comprising a support having end members forming arm rests and connected by cross members, a mattress supporting frame disposed between said end members and including a plurality of frame parts hinged together, a member forming a back of the sofa when the parts of the sofa bed are in their sofa positions, leg members rigidly secured to opposite ends of said back and extending substantially horizontally when said back is in upright position, a pair of links on each side of said sofa bed pivotally connected to said leg in spaced relation to each other, a second mattress supporting frame part to which the other ends of said links are pivotally connected in spaced relation to each other and which is pivotally mounted on said support, said sofa back being swingable upwardly on its connection with said links and then downwardly into bed position in which said legs rest on a. floor, cooperating parts on said links and said second mattress supporting frame part which abut after said back has been swung approximately half way into its bed position to swing said second frame part about its pivotal connection with said support during the downward swing oi said back, a third mattress supporting frame part arranged in said support and having one end thereof pivoted to said second mattress frame, supporting legs pivoted on the other end of said third mattresssupporting frame part, and another set of links connecting said second mattress supporting frame part with said pivoted legs for swinging the same for raising said third mattress supporting frame part to the level of the other mattress supporting frame parts when said second mattress supporting frame is swung on its pivotal connection with said support by said rst mentioned pair of links.

7. A sofa bed according to claim 6 and including rollers for the lower ends of said last mentioned legs and a part on said support of said sofa bed on which said rollers roll when said last mentioned legs are swung on their pivots.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,519,667 Coopersmith Dec. 16, 1924 1,559,243 Freeman Oct. 27, 1925 2,144,651 Feldman Jan. 24, 1939 2,644,171 Lorenz et al. July 7, 1953 FOREIGN PATENTS 419,098 France Dec. 26, 1910 816,562 France May 3, 1937 

